Browsing by Author "Williams, Brian"

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    Fifty three poems
    (2001) Williams, Brian; Haresnape, Geoffrey
    This collection is the result of an exciting approach to the study of creative writing by an academic institution. The opportunity to obtain a Masters Degree for the writing of poetry helped to energise my efforts to put together fifty-three new and unpublished poems. The poems are universal in their outreach, despite the fact that I have a particular life experience as a Black person in South Africa and the world of oppression and exploitation. Love in its various forms is a dominant theme in the writing: love for life, love for humanity, love for beauty, love as an expression of the need to oppose injustice and to strive for human freedom. Love at an intimate and personal level is also given a place of honour in the writing. Issues of political intrigue and concerns about the emergence of new strands of oppression form the sub-text of many of the poems. The need for democratic expression finds a voice in the writing and there is also support for a regenerative energy to strengthen the pillars of human freedom. This diverse collection mirrors the beauty of nature and the personal anguish of the poet. It also seeks to pose questions, about the nature of life and living and our presence, in the cosmos of a greater universe of meaning. I hope the poems succeed in their intention to inspire others.
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    Mathematical models and the fight against diseases in Africa
    (2003) Getz, Wayne M; Gouws, Eleanor; Hahne, Fritz; Kopp, P Ekkehard; Mostert, Paul; Muller, Chris; Seioghe, Cathal; Williams, Brian; Witten, Gareth
    n this age of molecular biology, The healthcare industry, politicians and the community at large are trying to find ‘magic bullet’ drugs and vaccines to conquer disease. Although smallpox has been eradicated and polio may soon be a scourge of the past, many pathogens replicate rapidly and mutate prodigiously, enabling them to evolve ways to circumvent our immune systems, as well as our drugs and vaccines. To fight and win the war against new emerging infections such as HIV/AIDS, TB and now SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), it is important to understand the temporal and spatial dynamics of the pathogens in human and, in some cases, animal reservoirs or vector populations. It is also necessary to understand the complex web of socio-economic factors pertinent to controlling the spread of disease, so that feasible, affordable and, most importantly, effective public-health policies can be devised and implemented.
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    Treatment as prevention: preparing the way
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2011) Williams, Brian; Wood, Robin; Dukay, Victor; Delva, Wim; Ginsburg, David; Hargrove, John; Stander, Martinus; Sheneberger, Robert; Montaner, Julio; Welte, Alex
    Potent antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces mortality and morbidity in people living with HIV by reducing viral load and allowing their immune systems to recover. The reduction in viral load soon after starting ART has led to the hypothesis that early and widespread ART could prevent onward transmission and therefore eliminate the HIV epidemic in the long term. While several authors have argued that it is feasible to use HIV treatment as prevention (TasP), provided treatment is started sufficiently early, others have reasonably drawn attention to the many operational difficulties that will need to be overcome if the strategy is to succeed in reducing HIV transmission. Furthermore, international public health policy must be based on more than theoretical studies, no matter how appealing. Community randomized controlled trials provide the gold standard for testing the extent to which early treatment reduces incidence, but much still needs to be understood and the immediate need is for operational studies to explore the practical feasibility of this approach. Here, we examine some of the issues to be addressed, the obstacles to be overcome, and strategies that may be necessary if TasP is to be effective. Studies of this kind will provide valuable information for the design of large-scale trials, as well as essential information that will be needed if early treatment is to be incorporated into public health policy.